This paper provides fi eld evidence on (a) how price framing aff ects consumers’ decision to switch health insurance plans and (b) how the price elasticity of demand for health insurance can be infl uenced by policymakers through simple regulatory eff orts. In 2009, in order to foster competition among health insurance companies, German federal regulation required health insurance companies to ...

Unit values, calculated as the ratio of household expenditure on a particular food to the quantity consumed, are often used as proxies for market prices in demand studies based on cross-sectional survey data. Because unit values are likely to give biased estimates of price elasticities, Deaton (1987, 1990) developed procedures for correcting these biases. However, empirical evidence on the bias...

Since the 1997 reform FTSE 100 stocks trade on the London Stock Exchange in a fragmented market. These stocks can be traded either on the electronic order book, SETS, or through dealers posting voluntary quotations. The UK regulator does not enforce any quote display requirement, and best execution requirements are satisfied when prices for off-SETS trades are at least as good as the prices ava...

In this paper we describe the Spanish electricity industry and its current regulatory regime. Special emphasis is given to the description and discussion of market design issues (including stranded cost recovery), the evolution of market structure, investment in generation capacity and network activities. We also provide a critical assessment of the 1997 regulatory reform, which did not succeed...

In the face of new reform China’s “unified electricity market”, frequency regulation ancillary service market in each region China is still divided between using MCP and PAB pricing mechanisms. The purpose this paper to explore different impact laws above two mechanisms have on provide relevant suggestions for reform. This simulates competitive activities based multi-agent simulation model, con...

The price of EU allowances (EUAs) in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) fell from almost 30€/tCO2 in mid-2008 to less than 5€/tCO2 in mid-2013. The sharp and persistent price decline has sparked intense debates both in academia and among policy-makers about the decisive allowance price drivers. In this paper we examine whether and to what extent the EUA price drop can be justified by thre...

The economic transition in China poses new questions in studying product demand. In this study, we investigate the demand pattern and structural changes during the economic transformation using annual data from the paper and paperboard industry in China. Instrumental variable estimations as well as cointegration analysis and error-correction models are applied to the analysis. Our results show ...

This paper develops a model of a representative transition economy to explain the stylised facts of output declines and real exchange rate appreciation in the early stages of transformation. These facts can be explained by supply-side shocks, interest rate liberalisation or a reduction in core inflation. The policy implication is that price liberalisation in advance of financial liberalization ...

This paper evaluates the welfare effects of lowering the long-run inflation target in a life-cycle model of housing, nominal debts, and money (ie., a liquid asset). To smooth out idiosyncratic earnings risk, agents make portfolio choices in the presence of transactions costs and borrowing constraints. We find that lowering inflation from 2% to 1% improves welfare and that the welfare gain is ev...

This paper defines the average wholesale price (AWP), which has become an important benchmark for prescription drug pricing and reimbursement.The paper briefly explains the AWP's various uses in the pricing of prescription drugs, highlights some of the problems that have emerged as a result of the way it is reported and used, and explores some of the possibilities for reform. The paper also con...